Frailty and Probable Dementia Risk Factors for Mortality After Major Surgery for Older Adults

The new research article, which was published by JAMA Surgery, features data collected from 1,193 major surgeries involving 992 community-living older adults from 2011 to 2017. The data was drawn from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services fee-for-service Medicare claims and the National Health and Aging Trends Study. The definition of major surgery included any procedure performed in an operating room with general anesthesia.

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Survey Finds Chronic, Widespread Shortages of Allied Care Professionals

A survey of 1,005 healthcare venues by the Dallas-based healthcare staffing recruiter found that 85% of respondents say they are experiencing a shortage of allied healthcare professionals “a great deal,” “a lot” or “a moderate amount,” while 82% report hiring new graduates over the last 12 months to address ongoing staffing shortages. Only 15% responded “a little” or “not at all.” 

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ECRI: Healthcare Organizations Must Address Racist Behavior in the Workplace

The majority of the racist incidents involved patients and family members making inappropriate comments related to race or ethnicity. These comments can have a negative impact on the mental health of healthcare providers—leading them to consider leaving their jobs at a time when workforce shortages are a significant problem at healthcare organizations.

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Executive Briefing: Medication Orders, Crash Carts, and Food Storage Lead Top Clinical Problems

Check patient units to ensure breast milk and other patient foods are stored correctly, encourage staff to reach out to providers if medication orders are not clear, and check crash carts for expired or missing items. Those are among some of the highest scored problems not associated with infection control or suicide prevention, according to findings by surveyors with The Joint Commission in the 12 months ending August 31.

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